The Classic Daquiri: A Sublime Classic Cocktail You MUST Try (It’s nothing like the sticky-sweet fruity frappe you’re imagining)

The classic daquiri is a beautiful thing. It’s the stuff of cool breezes and hot summer sun. Just take a sip and you can smell the salty sea air. You can almost hear the wind whipping through the palm fronds and feel the white sand on the bottom of your sandals.

The Daquiri is the drink Ernest Hemingway made famous. After stumbling into an out-of -the-way bar off Havana’s Parque Central called El Floridita, he worked his way down the drink menu one night and discovered a favorite: a drink that will now live on as his namesake. The author famously downed up to a dozen Hemingway Daquiris every day during his stint in Cuba and made it a very popular summer drink in the US during the 40s and 50s.

Sadly, during the 70s, the drink was bastardized into a frothy mess of pureed fruits, strawberry syrups, and finely granulated ice. Yet the long-ignored classic daquiri is still a cocktail that satisfies; and with only three ingredients, it’s also incredibly easy to master.

More, including video, after the jump.

Here’s the recipe for a classic daquiri: Sugar, lime juice, and rum. That’s it! But served up in the proper way it’s a perfect combination of vintage elegance and summer cool.

2 tbsp sugar

1 oz fresh lime juice

2 oz rum

And that’s it. Simple enough to make. Feel free to either shake it over ice, or serve over crushed ice (Whichever you prefer. Both are excellent).

For a Hemingway Daquiri, add a splash of grapefruit juice and some cherry liqueur. Here’s the recipe for the Hemingway:

1 1/2 ounces white rum

1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur

3/4 ounce simple syrup

1/2 ounce grapefruit juice

1/2 ounce lime juice

And which bar glass to use? Here’s the tricky part. For authentic flair, serve this drink in a classic coupe glass ($7.50 apiece from The Boston Shaker). These are beautifully bowl-shaped pieces of stemware that were very popular in the 30s through the 60s. But if you don’t have any coupes on hand (which most people don’t) a martini or margarita glass works beautifully!

Enjoy! Here’s a short video tutorial.

So, what do you think? Are you an aficionado of the classic daquiri? Are there any other classic cocktails that are too often overlooked nowadays? Leave a comment and let us know…